Durant Nature Preserve: White House Road & South Lakeside Trail

This past Spring we took advantage of warmer days and met friends at Durant Nature Preserve for easy family hiking (about one total mile), playground time and a picnic at the nearby Compass Rose Brewery. Durant Nature Preserve is a quiet, woodsy park with hiking trails, lakes for fishing, playgrounds, a nature play space, butterfly garden, open fields, great engaging programs, and more. We’ve explored this park several times in the past, and love discovering something new each time. For this visit, we drove to the park’s north entrance at 8305 Camp Durant Rd and parked near the small open field to access White House Road Trail.

White House Road Trail is a wide, unpaved trail in a heavily wooded section of the park. Leaves and pine needles covered most of the trail, and its flat surface made it easy for kiddo running. The kids enjoyed sprinting ahead to find flora and fauna. Most of their findings consisted of moss, sticks, and listening for birds. Then, we crossed over the small gravel path that separates the lakes and turned left towards the South Lakeside Trail.

South Lakeside Trail is a narrow dirt trail that meanders up and down along the south side of the Lower Lake. The kids enjoyed crossing small streams, finding pine cones, and throwing rocks into the lake. The trail’s gentle banks make it easy for younger children to access the water’s edge. After finishing our half mile hike along South Lakeside Trail, we walked across the lake to the playground. Finally, we finished our morning outing with a quick drive to Compass Rose Brewery for beers and a picnic lunch.